Iran is seething
with student protests, political violence, and growing anger at the
radical Islamic hard-liners who dominate the country's
politics. A nationwide protest movement has now mushroomed
from what began on June 11 as a small protest against rising costs
due to the proposed privatization of some parts of Iranian
universities. Protests have spread from Tehran, the capital,
to other cities, including Isfahan, Mashad, Shiraz, and Ahvaz.

Despite the bloody
attempts of pro-government vigilante thugs to quell demonstrations
and intimidate the young protesters, the new Iranian
revolutionaries have grown in strength and broadened their demands
to include democratic reforms and the dismantling of the Islamic
regime. At this critical time, the United States and its allies
should apply firm and relentless pressure on Iran through economic
sanctions to support the grassroots movement for reform.

Tapping a Reservoir of
Resentment

The protesters
have tapped into a huge reservoir of resentment against the aging
mullahs who have led Iran since the 1979 revolution, turning a
deaf ear to growing calls for political,
economic, and social liberalization. Because of its
arrogant authoritarian rule, corruption, restrictive social
policies, and disastrous economic policies, Iran's clerical establishment, led by
Ayatollah Ali Khamanei who succeeded Ayatollah Khomeini as
the supreme leader, has grown increasingly unpopular. Despite
Iran's immense oil wealth, Iranians have suffered from high
unemployment rates, housing shortages, high inflation, and economic
stagnation.

Rising
disaffection with Islamic hard-liners led Iranians to vote in
overwhelming numbers for reformist President Mohammad Khatami in
1997 and, again, in 2001 and, in 2000, to elect a parliament
dominated by reformers opposed to the harsh policies of the
hard-liners. But the reformers have been frustrated by the
fierce opposition of the Islamic revolution's old guard, which is
entrenched in the judiciary, the police, the Revolutionary Guard,
the state-controlled radio and television media, and the Islamic
foundations that control more than one quarter of the
economy.

Hard-liners Attempts to Quell
Protests

Iran's hard-liners
have blocked reform efforts, limited the powers of the parliament,
cracked down on political dissidents, and closed more than 70
reformist newspapers in the last three years, creating an explosive
situation. Iranian students-
nearly all of whom were born years after the 1979 revolution-are
exasperated by the sluggish pace of reform and the continued
restrictions on social and political freedoms. The students,
who have assumed a leading political role, serve as a significant
barometer, registering the mood of Iran's youthful population: An
estimated 70 percent or Iran's 67 million people are under
the age of 30.

To discredit the
growing protest movement as a foreign-inspired plot, the Iranian
government has accused the United States of meddling in the
country's internal affairs and charged that the Bush
Administration has encouraged the protests. Iranian officials
have tried to jam satellite television broadcasts operated by
Iranian exiles in the United States. However, although those
broadcasts may have swelled the crowds in the early days of the
protests, the demand for change is now a grassroots
phenomenon , fueled by the widespread disaffection of Iranians with
the harsh Islamic regime that has repressed freedom at home,
exported terrorism abroad, isolated Iran from the world, and ruined
Iran's economy.

What the
United States Should Do

To be sure, the Bush Administration has taken
a harder line against Iran than did the Clinton Administration,
which relaxed economic sanctions on Iran in a failed effort to
improve relations with the reformists led by President Khatami. But
Khatami was not willing or able to deliver for Clinton any more
than he was able to deliver promised reforms for the Iranian
students, who now denounce him and other reformers for doing too
little to late.

President Bush named Iran as part of the "Axis
of Evil" in January 2002 and put the United States squarely on the
side of the Iranian people's quest for reform in a July 12, 2002
speech in which he noted: "The people of Iran want the same
freedoms, human rights and opportunities as people around the
world. Their government should listen to their hopes." On June 15,
President Bush lauded the most recent student protests, saying:
"This is the beginning of people expressing themselves toward a
free Iran, which I think is positive."

The Bush Administration should now:

Tighten economic sanctions on Iran to drive
home to the regime the costs of repression at home, terrorism
abroad, and Iran's continued efforts to build nuclear weapons,
and

Press its European allies, Japan, and
international financial institutions to deny Iran loans, aid, and
debt relief until it halts its support of terrorism, puts its
nuclear program under strict international safeguards, and respects
the rights of its own people.

Firm
and relentless pressure is needed to force change in Iran. Engaging
in a "dialogue of civilizations" with President Khatami and other
reformers who have proved incapable of changing Iran will not
achieve the desired results because the hard-liners control Iranian
foreign policy and ensure its continuing support for terrorism. But
the Iranian people, who also demand change, could become a key ally
in helping to dismantle the "Axis of Evil".